Proof-of-Concept of a Thermal Barrier Coated Titanium Cooling Layer for an Inside-Out Ceramic Turbine

Increasing turbine inlet temperature (TIT) of recuperated gas turbines would lead to simultaneously high efficiency and power density, making them prime candidates for low-emission aeronautics applications, such as hybrid-electric aircraft. The inside-out ceramic turbine (ICT) architecture achieves high TIT by using compression-loaded monolithic ceramics. To resist inertial forces due to blade tip speed exceeding 450 m/s, the shroud of the ICT is made of carbon-polymer composite, wound around a metallic cooling ring. This paper demonstrates that it is beneficial to use a titanium alloy cooling ring with a thermal barrier coating (TBC), rather than nickel superalloys, for the interstitial cooling ring protecting the carbon-polymer from the hot combustion gases. A numerical design of experiments (DOE) analysis shows the design tradeoffs between the minimum safety factor and the required cooling power for multiple geometries. An optimized high-pressure first turbine stage of a 500 kW microturbine concept using ceramic blades and a titanium cooling ring in an ICT configuration is presented. Its structural performance (minimum safety factor of 1.4), as well as its cooling losses, (2% of turbine stage power) are evaluated. Finally, a 20 kW-scale prototype is tested at 300 m/s and a TIT of 1375K during 4 h to demonstrate the viability of the concept. Experiments show that the polymer composite was kept below its maxinuan safe operating temperature and components show no early signs of degradation.